Across the Ancients and Runeterra
by Tsurugi Ichisuke
Summary: [AU] Imagine the Ancients and Runeterra coexists within the same Earth, and they are separated by an equator named Meta Barrier, until one day a monkey attempted to bypass the barrier... Inspired by Twitter RP. Minor Crossover with Aotu World. [CHAPTER 6: THE SECRET REVEALED is up!]
1. The Meta Barrier

**A random idea came through my mind while I'm currently handling several characters for role-playing on Twitter. Here it is! First fiction of 2019. Maybe this is the only one, because I'm making this as a several-chapter story. PM me if you need the username of the characters below via Twitter!**

**Disclaimer: Not associated with Valve or Riot. **

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**CHAPTER ONE**

**The Meta Barrier (and how Wukong made it through)**

There is an Earth in the parallel universe where both worlds exist within the same planet.

The lands of the Northern Hemisphere are better known as the Runeterra as a whole, which means the magical earth. Valoran and Shurima are the well-known continents, and Azir, the emperor of Shurima is believed to exist a few thousand years after the Runeterra is formed. Rumours say the northern hemisphere emits different magnetic field in comparison to the southern hemisphere while the truth is remained unknown, but the Runeterra lives to its name implied. All living creatures across Runeterra are possessed with different level of magical powers, some are literally, while others gained through knowledge and engineering. Some champions possess powerful magical powers since they were born, while others emit their magical powers through non-stop engineering of their weapons and endless of training sessions.

The lands of the Southern Hemisphere are referred as the Ancients, although the true name of the large biomass of the hemisphere is remained unknown. A few years after the Earth shapes completely, the Mad Moon, one of the two moons existed around the earth, fell onto the Southern Hemisphere and eventually destroyed upon impact, and two known remains of the moon are located across the now shattered lands of the Southern Hemisphere. The impact of the moon didn't affect the daily life of the creatures of the Northern Hemisphere, strangely. Now, the two known remains are being named as the Radiant Ore and the Direstone, respectively. Radiant Ore gave off the emission of bright color and charm to the area around it, while Direstone works otherwise, making the earth around the stone appear poisonous and decayed.

If you're asking why the impact of the Mad Moon onto the southern hemisphere didn't affect even a second towards the geography of the northern counterpart, the following paragraph will explain about the phenomenon.

The answer lies within an equator that separates the Earth into two hemispheres, and is known as the Meta Barrier. The Meta Barrier works as a barrier, literally, but nobody even heard of the barrier. No one in the Ancients heard about the barrier as the technologies there are still at low level. How about the living things of the Runeterra? Well, despite their technologies are well advanced thanks to Runeterra, the scientists failed to give an answer about how the Meta Barrier works. Nobody knows the name of the barrier at this point, yet.

Not until one monkey hit the bump, unintentionally.

Sun Wukong is one of the well-known heroes who tricks opponents into his and his allies' traps. Everyone calls him the Monkey King because of his cocky yet convincible behaviours, from strategically mocking enemies, to behaving mischief by his special ability to shapeshift into any of 72 known items, human or animals. He was being trapped under the Five Finger Stone for 500 years, until a monk came to his rescue. Since then, Wukong followed every commands of the monk, while helping him to fend off every enemies who blocked their path in their eventually famous Eastern story named the Journey to the East.

"Great, my mission is over, thanks Tang! And I'm wishing you have a great life," that was the moment when Wukong waved goodbye to the monk as they decided to part ways, although his lessons and suggestions are forever remembered by the now Buddhist monkey. Summoning his cloud – his signature and personal transportation, the Monkey King then hopped on and started travelling again, this time across the Ancients.

"Hey Tresdin, how you're doing?" Wukong took a while to stop by above the remains of a battlefield. Corpses were everywhere. Only a few soldiers remain, including the dark-tanned lady Tresdin.

"Not much. Just a small victory," the legion commander replied while still catching some breathes from what she had been through just now.

"Did you realize that… You basically named your Legion 'Third Place'? Am I wrong?"

"Bullshit," Tresdin hardly giggled.

"Bronze."

"Whatever you said, monkey brain," Tresdin was walking towards the medic available to treat her wounds, "none of your business here, I'm taking care of this."

"Alright," dissatisfied with the conversation, Wukong waved goodbye and left with his cloud. The cloud travels fast, that the smokes from the flames of the battlefield would go along with him at his back.

"Wars happen everywhere, and so do the conflicts," Wukong said to himself while still travelling to the parts unknown, "Mars versus Zeus, Lina against her sister, and even- Hang on, what on earth is this?"

Wukong didn't realize that he was travelling so fast that he missed the landmass of the Ancients. He was now hovering above the sea with Dark Reef resides way below the surface, and the colour of the sea changed gradually from the very dark blue to a rather light blue.

And then, he could feel the shock-wave around him.

"What on earth… was that…"

Now he was at the end of the gradient of the colour, Wukong decided to make a U-turn to investigate the source of the shock-wave further. He would slow down in the process until he could feel the shock-wave again, but this time it was weaker compared to the first time he experienced. The monkey waved his hand gently, and he could feel the slight pressure he was pressing against.

"Is that the invisible wall or something? Yes, it is. What if I make a turn back and continue heading north? Is there another landmass right there?"

And he did so. Continued travelling north for an hour, he soon found himself hovering on the top of a landmass. A very different landmass compared to how he looked at the landmass of the Ancients. Wukong decided to decelerate his cloud, exploring the landmass carefully. First the sands, then the city halls, and finally he stopped by a temple on one of the islands.

Making his informal entrance by jumping off the clouds before dismissing his personal transport, Wukong walked into the temple while yielding his Monkey King Bar.

And, he saw a masked local who was training with himself with a sword. The masked man knew his presence immediately and dashed towards the monkey, resting his sword beside the monkey's neck.

"Your name." The masked man demanded.

"First of all, where am I?"

"Hmph, a strange monkey," the man moved the sharp end of the blade closer towards the neck, "is this the first time you're here?"

"What do you think? Is this the first time you hit up with a talking monkey as well?" Wukong answered that caught the man off guard despite of his dangerous situation, provide the fact that Wukong has fought countless number of creatures and monsters before.

"You got me." With a sigh, the man dropped his blade, "the name's Yi."

"They call me Sun Wukong, the Monkey King."

"Monkey King? Never heard of that."

"The whole world knows me-" Wukong said it proudly, while pointing to himself.

"Nobody in Runeterra knows you-" Master Yi tilted his head in confusion.

"Wait, am I in Runeterra?" Wukong looked closer to Yi, out of curiosity.

"If you are not from Runeterra, then where are you from?"

"You're right, Yi. I came from the place from the south. They name the place as the Ancients-"

"Never heard that before." Yi calmly replied, with his arms crossed.

"Wait a minute…" Wukong walked around the temple to inspect the environment, including the trees, the flowers and the landmass. And he investigated the fonts written on the signboards being hung on one big arch of the temple, which was being translated as Wuju. Yes, those are not found while he was travelling across the Ancients, and he had no clue about the writings.

"No way." Wukong walked back to continue his conversation with Yi, "had anyone travelled or explored way beyond Runeterra?"

"I bet not with the technology available here."

Wukong couldn't believe what he had just heard. He assumed that technologies at Runeterra are far more advanced compared to the Ancients, but his jaws dropped when Yi said the technologies weren't advanced enough to explore anywhere beyond the landmass of Runeterra. If Yi was right, no one from the Ancients would go beyond the gradient. He knew Kunkka tried but his ship was destroyed by Leviathan in the midst of thunderstorm before he could reach the said gradient.

"Man… How the fu-"

Apparently, Wukong achieved the feat. The first hero to land onto Runeterra.


	2. Connection Restored

**CHAPTER TWO**

**Connection… Restored (but why Aatrox and…?)**

"Say, did you recall back how it happened?"

A large figure was having a conversation with a smaller figure beside a campfire, right beside a wooden cabin which is around 10 feet tall. The large figure was apparently 6 feet tall in his sitting position, while the smaller one is just like a regular lady. There was a huge dark blade as well, being well put beside the titan.

"I don't know, Aatrox," the smaller figure responded, "It's like… Rakan was trying to fly, but I didn't trust his wings-"

"Wait a minute." The Darkin Blade raised an eyebrow. "Xayah, I didn't recall anything about any Vastayan with wings."

"We have wings, but we would open those once in a while." The violet Vastayan was taking a sip of herb tea, her eyes focused on the horned maroon titan named Aatrox. "And Rakan seized the opportunity to bring me around. I hate flying."

Aatrox let out a sigh and patted her shoulder.

"See, I know that feel, my dear Xayah," well, this was how Aatrox addressed his bird partner since Valentine's Day dating, "Because you feel like you are a half human."

The question is about why they were currently together. It all started after the incident where Xayah lost connection with her partner Rakan when he was bringing her flying. Blame the grip strength of the charmer, actually. She had no idea how to contact him back, nor the routes to reach him, as the magical forest of Ionia is pretty unpredictable.

And she hates flying.

So, instead of waiting for his arrival to have her back from the forest, she trained herself into a survival amateur and a hunting expert. Using her sharp feathers as an advantage, Xayah built a small cabin within the woods using the woods chopped down from her surroundings. Her cabin is a one-room type with an area of around 320 square feet, and the cabin is pretty large enough for a normal human or two to live in. While she had time to manage her cabin, Xayah explored outside of her cabin too. She did some hunting to get some meat, but sometimes she had fallen into guys who were also pleasure-seekers.

She lived that way until she met the Darkin titan, who was in search of a partner for the Valentine's Day. Having no fear to anything, Xayah approached Aatrox, and they had a successful date in the middle of the open field across the forest. In exchange for the Valentine's Date, Aatrox trained her to be a better Vastayan assassin, and her accuracy of throwing her quills has been improved drastically throughout the training session where the Darkin titan led his Lhotlan partner into forest to hunt down the preys.

"Xayah, I have bad news for you." Back to the campfire, Aatrox said with a rather sad tone. He would miss her although they were together for several weeks, starting from a week before their date on the Valentine's Day.

"What is it?"

"Actually, this will be the last time we're here together."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going out to hunt bigger and more challenging monsters. No worries, I'll be safe."

Xayah leapt onto the shoulder of the Darkin titan's shoulder, before sitting beside his head and rubbing his horn gently.

"I'll miss you, Aatrox," said the violet Vastayan before giving him a smooch, "I wish I'll be going along with you, because you know, I'm getting excited of hunting bigger and more challenging monsters as you said, but too bad-"

"Don't be too bad about me. I'll be fine as always."

"Please, Aatrox, let me finish my sentence first."

Aatrox nodded.

"What I mean too bad is not about you actually… But yeah, I do hope you'll be safe outside, but what I mean is about Rakan-"

Cue somebody stumbled onto the ground, not far away from the couple.

"Hang on, dear, you'll stay here or you'll end up scaring him away."

"What-"

"Just stay, Aatrox."

With a shrug and a nod from Aatrox, Xayah hopped down from the shoulder of the titan, before revealing two of her feathers from her cloak while approaching the figure, who was still lying down on the ground. Xayah walked towards the figure slowly.

"Help… me…"

"Wait, is that the familiar sound I heard?" Xayah could recognize the voice, and she kept her feathers away quickly while approaching the figure slowly.

"I think I broke my leg…" the figure was moaning in pain, and the sound could be heard more clearly as Xayah was approaching closer to the figure, "Help- Wait, Xayah?"

At this point, Xayah was standing in front of the figure.

"Rakan?"

"Yes, miella?"

"Oh god, I miss you so much-" Xayah hopped onto Rakan without thinking the fact that he was injured. With her hand embracing his face slightly covered in dirt while sitting on him, Xayah couldn't hide her feels upon finding her Vastayan partner successfully. She had tears of joy dripping out from her face.

"Silly, I'm here now." Rakan tried to get up, but to no avail because of her weight.

"Is anyone okay there?" Aatrox shouted from afar.

"Who's that?" Rakan asked.

"Let me explain that, later." Xayah stood up before lifted Rakan up, having his left arm over her shoulders, before both of them walked towards the campfire. Fortunately, Rakan's bird legs were fine. Following up Rakan's walking pace, Xayah was on her way towards where Aatrox was sitting while holding the charmer beside her. "Say, a lot of things happened while our connection has been lost. Don't be surprised."

"I don't mieli- Whoa-" Rakan moved his head up and he could see a titan sitting right in front of him. Rakan shivered before hiding right behind Xayah.

"It's okay, Rakan. He's just my partner-"

"Your partner? Why didn't you tell me about-"

"Where were you at the first place?" Xayah shouted after she turned around towards the Vastayan charmer. They were arguing but as for Aatrox, there were two birds chirping in angry tone.

"Miella, I'm…"

"C'mon, Xayah, is that Rakan you're looking for?" Aatrox sighed, "Let me tell you, she had found the one who can protect her-"

"Hey!" Rakan moved away from Xayah before standing in front of Aatrox, and his fear of the titan was gone instantly, "I can protect her for all costs! She is my miella!"

"Stop it, don't fight verbally!" Xayah shook her head. "Let me explain, Aatrox is about to leave but I'm staying here looking for you." Aatrox nodded.

"Seriously?"

Aatrox raised an eyebrow. "She's telling you the truth. I'm going to hunt more monsters out there because there would be more challenging compared to the Ionian forest. Plus, she always wonders about your whereabouts during these few weeks we're been together. Nothing lasts forever, and so does my relationship with YOUR miella."

Rakan was in utter shock. He had never heard about the relationship between the titan and the bird until now. And the titan said they're breaking up. Rakan was confused. "I-"

"Don't worry, mieli," Xayah added while patting on Rakan's shoulder, "Aatrox was right. It was been a ride with him, but I admit the fact that I couldn't sleep well because of you. Don't you worry about me of my whereabouts; I built my own house and Aatrox brought me hunting. Look." Xayah threw one of her feathers at random direction, and it ended up stuck in one of the outer walls of the cabin. Rakan took a closer look towards the direction of where the feather landed, and he was amused that Xayah could hit a fly with ease.

"You… are… AMAZING!" Rakan leapt towards Xayah and gave her a warm embrace. Xayah was pissed off slightly at first, but she couldn't resist the hug so she embraced her support in return.

"My, my, what a reunion," Aatrox chuckled as the two love birds had their connections restored again, "Guess what, my dear Xayah- I mean, just Xayah, it's time for me to depart. I don't call this a break up, but…" The Darkin titan lend out his hand towards Xayah, attempting a handshake.

"Thanks for everything, Aatrox," Xayah replied, "I will take care of this little bird-"

"No, I WILL take care of her," Rakan interrupted.

"Whatever, Aatrox trained me well," Xayah rolled her eyes before returning to approach the larger male's hand, and she ended up leaving a kiss on his palm.

"I was expecting a handshake, but a kiss will do better." The titan said before he stood up, putting his blade back to his back as he could carry it easily, "Well, don't you worry about me, I'll be back in peace."

Xayah backed off as soon as the titan stood up, before Rakan went on embracing his former and current lover back. The newly crowned couple would then watch the Darkin titan who was on his way to parts unknown. Without turning back, Aatrox managed to wave goodbye by raising his left hand up for a moment. "Don't miss me, I'll be fine. Don't wait me for my return."

"Sure, I promise!" Xayah waved goodbye towards the titan, although Aatrox didn't look back.

And that was the last time Xayah had seen the Darkin titan, who walked into the darkness.

"So… Here we are," Rakan smiled, holding both hands of Xayah, "I will never lose you again."

"Promise you won't?" the violet Vastayan asked.

"I won't bring you flying again," the golden Vastayan giggled.

As they were about to enter the cabin, Xayah's ears twitched. She could hear something not far from where they were standing, this time it was from the opposite direction from where Rakan had landed. And the sound was made as a result of someone falling down.

"Another intruder? Or is Aatrox coming back?" Rakan asked.

"No, it cannot be," Xayah replied while she was walking towards the source of the falling sound. Rakan quickly shielded his carry, with a bright light from his golden cloak brighten up the darkness around the cabin.

As the Vastayan couple approached the source, they could see the figure roughly. To their surprise, they couldn't recognize the race of the fallen figure.

"He is not a Vastayan," Xayah said, "but he's in pain. Rakan, help him up."

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**This chapter is dedicated to Rakan x Xayah day, which is 19****th**** of April actually. I'm posting this beforehand because there is another character from Dota 2 which shares the same release day and month as well. Plus, the mention of Xayah and Aatrox ship is dedicated to my Xayah muse who partnered up with the Darkin titan previously.**

**As there is no connection between the previous chapter and the current chapter, the current chapter will be connected to the next one instead.**


	3. The Skywrath's Tragedy

**This is the story of Rakan von Dragonus, the crossover character between Rakan and the Skywrath Mage. I did some modifications of his lore from the Twitter part, and this is just the beginning of his story. Plus, Dragonus shares the same release day and month (but not years) with the couple! My heart goes fluffy right now- (coughs)**

**Anyway, enjoy!**

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**CHAPTER THREE**

**The Skywrath's Tragedy (and why he appears)**

Let's introduce this Dragonus into the story. This time, the story is being brought back to the Ancients.

Dragonus is the skywrath mage in the Ghastly Eyrie. Just like the Vastayan Lhotlans from the Runeterra, a skywrath has the characteristics of a bird, notably bird legs and feathers, while retaining the remaining body parts. A skywrath also possesses magical powers to either save their own kind, or to eliminate every threat possible. What makes a skywrath slightly different from the Lhotlan is about the ability to fly. A skywrath flies more often and walks rarely compared to their counterparts from the Runeterra. You could imagine Dragonus as a pseudo-Vastayan who is always flapping his wings throughout the Ancients, but he has his light armour wearing in case he is being attacked physically.

As per usual, he was patrolling his beloved Ghastly Eyrie, and in fact he was the prince of the kingdom. But everything changed when a small explosion occurred within one of the castles. He could hear the explosion as he was not far from the castle. Dark aura began to gather from the sky, channelling towards the said castle.

"No, no-"

Accelerating himself to a high speed, Dragonus would fly towards the castle where the explosion occurred. Well, all he could see was the large hole created through the roof. Furious, he thought nothing while approaching the hole, and looked through into the castle.

An outbreak was occurred. It was the battle of the sisters. The bright feathered skywraths like him were battling against the dark feathered counterparts. Magic spells were cast from one and towards another, one by one, creating more and more scars on the used-to-be beautiful and sacred castle. Dragonus shook his head as he would sense about any bad news would potentially occur anytime soon. And then, the male skywrath's eyes went big. He was in utter shock.

He could see a familiar face who was in the middle of the fight.

"Shendelzare!" He shouted.

"Dragonus, I'll be fine!" the face turned in response.

Shendelzare is her name. Another skywrath in the Ghastly Eyrie, and a princess from the different blood of the skywrath family. She barely knew him until the moment when her family moved into the Ghastly Eyrie 5 years ago. And then his smile caught her eye. They were dating since then. Dragonus and Shendelzare were happy being together for about four years, and they were now engaged, with a month away before their wedding.

Right now, Dragonus' fiancée was fighting against the evil power of the Sisters. But to no avail, her magical ability was slowly depleted, and eventually failing. Being witnessed by the male skywrath, Shendelzare was being sent off from the roof, while the sisters were cracking evil laughter as the dark aura was slowly gaining control over the castle. The female skywrath was sent flying so fast, her wings couldn't react even after she was being sent off the roof, and Dragonus was left in utter shock for a second, before he could react and flew as fast as possible to get her.

By the time he got her, it was all too late.

His lover landed with a pair of broken wings and an almost lifeless body. Dragonus was one second too late to reach her before Shendelzare hit the ground.

"Shendelzare!" Dragonus shouted while reaching the almost lifeless body of her, before he landed awkwardly but at least he reached her finally.

"So… sorry." The female skywrath said in sorrow, while trying to catch her breath.

"Stay with me, Shendelzare, stay with me," Dragonus said after having her head resting within his arms. He shook her gently, reminding her to regain some consciousness despite the fall.

"Don't you worry about me, Dragonus… I'll avenge sometimes later… Thank you… Dragonus…"

Shendelzare's eyes drifted to a close and she would never open her eyes again. The last breath had been caught. That was the last words from her mouth.

"Hey, stay with me… Shendelzare… Shendelzare…" Dragonus wasted his time calling her name before finally learned the fact that she had gone. Shaking his head while denying the fact that he was holding her lifeless body, Dragonus' eyes were being filled with tears – he couldn't hold his emotions anymore.

From that moment, he swore to himself that he shall take any risks to avenge, for Ghastly Eyrie, and his fallen skywrath family, and most importantly, his fallen fiancée.

But, Dragonus was too fond of his relationship with her. He spent the next day accompanying his fiancée, telling her their love stories despite Shendelzare could no longer listen nor response to his chat. It was a one-man show for Dragonus, and his only audience is the dead skywrath. He was focused mourning her death that he didn't bother to eat anymore. The next morning, still learning the fact that she is now dead, Dragonus made a huge decision of his life.

He would not forget what the sisters had done to anyone around him, and he would seek revenge.

Wiping his tears dry, Dragonus decided to bury his lover within a quiet forest nearby, with his staff acting as a substitute of a tombstone so he could mark the location of her body easily.

The next thing he could remember was souring upwards into the sky, flying into the parts unknown.

xXx

"Hey… You're okay? Oh, he's awake now. Rakan, give him a glass of water-"

"On it, miella!"

Dragonus gently opened his eyes upon hearing two strange voices. As he regained his consciousness finally, the skywrath found himself in the cabin, with himself occupying the queen-sized bed. Groaned in pain, Dragonus rubbed his head gently before looking around, and they were two strange humanoid creatures looking at him, one of them was topless with a golden cape, while the other has the violet feathers and a pair of pointy, fluffy ears on her head. The golden one was holding a glass of water, attempting to pass down to him.

"Where the hell am I-" Dragonus flinched.

"It's okay, man, you're safe with us for now," the lady replied.

"Yeah, you can say that," the golden man added.

"I am NOT fine! And where the hell am I?" Dragonus asked in a short-tempered manner. Notably, he is one of the few skywrath who does not show this kind of attribute often.

"You're in Ionia… And you're not a Vastayan, are you?" the lady asked.

"I guess this place is pretty far away from my own." Dragonus received the glass of water from the golden and took a sip. "And yes, I'm not a… Vastayan, I never heard of that name."

"You're an interesting guy, but until you are fully recovered, you're staying with us for now. Xayah and I had discussed about it, and please feel free as your home. Oh, talking about Xayah, this is her name, my miella… or I mean, my lover," the golden man moved swiftly towards Xayah, giving her a warm embrace, "my name's Rakan. The name's friendly enough, and how about you?"

Dragonus felt uneasy upon their interactions, as that could remind him of the lovely interactions between him and Shendelzare. Nevertheless, he shook his head strongly to focus where he was and what he would do now. "My name is Dragonus, from the Ghastly Eyrie- Guess you two would never heard the name before."

"Dragonus? Sounds cool." Xayah was amused, "Guess the names given at your place are as unique as us."

"I guess, that's the similarity between us, the skywrath and you as Vastayans." Dragonus inspected their bodies merely by his eyes – the feathers, the bird legs, the human body structures – and according to the skywrath, there is not much difference between the two races.

"How about like this, Dragonus?" Rakan left his embrace before heading his way towards the skywrath mage, patting his shoulders, "You're going to be one of us. You'll be staying here for a long while, and I'll modify you into one of us… Say, how about someone that is similar to me?"

"Bad idea, mieli-"

"I'LL DO IT." The skywrath stood up suddenly.

"Say what-" Xayah was surprised, "Wait- what's your motive actually? You're not going back to your places?"

That question hit Dragonus right into his heart. "I'm not going back until I'm regathering myself right here. Magical spells, new appearance, and any other things will do. As long as I can let the sisters pay and my Shendelzare will rest in peace. She will be watching me from the sky, from now on."

"Shendelzare? Sounds like that's your miella," Rakan said.

"Exactly. We were about to get married after years of being together, until something bad has fallen into my kingdom. My family has fallen, my lover has fallen as well, and I ended up here with two strangers, somehow." Dragonus let out a sigh, "I couldn't change my past, but at least I can control my future."

The couple nodded.

"She is looking for you right now, wherever you are." Xayah moved forward before hugging the skywrath, ignoring her partner's shocked expression even at the point where Xayah planted her kiss onto Dragonus' forehead.

Little did anyone knew that Dragonus had hit the Meta Barrier, but the skywrath ignored the shockwave and continued travelling north, until he ran out of stamina due to lack of food intake. And that's how he ended up collapsing in front of Rakan and Xayah.

The only one who knows the truth behind the barrier is none other than the Monkey King, who was observing the cabin on the top of a random tree nearby.


	4. The Nightcrawler's Escape Route

**No reviews? All I have to do is just keep updating the story until someone acknowledges me regards of the storyline. For this chapter, a scaley-friendly chapter features a fish and a chameleon, though I couldn't think much about Neeko's story. Enjoy!**

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**CHAPTER FOUR**

**The Nightcrawler's Escape Route (and ended up in Ionia too)**

If you can recall what happened to Slark in A Nightcrawler's Tale, remember the fact that he had escaped the infamous Dark Reef Prison. If you don't, here's a summary of the whole five-chapter story:

Slark was being abandoned in front of a random house in the Dark Reef. When the door was opened, it was revealed that it's Slithice, the Naga Siren who resides in the house, and she is a part of the Slithereen Guard family. Without being acknowledged by her parents who were busy at work, Slithice took the little fish and adopted him as if Slark was her only son, provided the fact that she had nothing to do in her house other than guarding. As Slark grew up (with an extra pair of feet), he developed not just friendship, but relationship as well with the Naga Siren.

Things went downhill when Slark went out hunting for food while Slithice was resting at home due to illness. And at that moment, he was being arrested, and being plead guilty of living in the Dark Reef as an illegal resident. He was then being sent to the Dark Reef Prison, where the toughest Slithereen Guards would be swimming and slithering around 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, to make sure no one would escape from the prison until two possible outcomes: death penalty or life sentence. Day one inside the prison, his inmate was his dying father, who requested his son to have his meat eaten to stay alive. Devastated, Slark was planning carefully to escape from the prison, by his observance and improvised listening skill.

And it all went down to one moment. 12 of the prisoners, all tough fish, went riot out of nowhere and distracted the Slithereen Guards. In the midst of chaos, Slark managed to steal a weapon – the now Silver Edge shiv on his hand – and slit one of the Slithereen Guards open right into the throat. And then he swam away with his father's shark skin while the brawl occurred right in front of the front gate, and nowhere to be found. The dozen of the prisoners who attempted the same, however, faced the different fate from Slark: some were being shot dead, while other were being executed in front of other prisoners as a shot of warning.

Slark, being the only escapee from the prison, did manage to back to surface. From the story A Nightcrawler's Tale, he did meet up with Sven who eventually brought him to his new home. But, what if he didn't make it to the said land instead?

Let's rewind the story where Slark was still swimming within other fishes, going north away from the Dark Reef. Just before that, he managed to make a U-turn to reunite with his beloved Slithice briefly.

Knock, knock. "Slithice, it's me, Slark." The Naga Siren was surprised as she could heard a familiar voice. She opened the door and ended up being speared by the little fish, though the impact was not much. Slithice understood he was giving her the warm hug, as they waited for this moment after several months Slark was being sent to the prison.

"I miss you, Slithice."

"I miss you too, Slark. But, please don't stay here. They might be looking for you."

"I am really aware of my situation right now. In case you need me again, like marriage or something… I'm heading north." Slark said.

"But I heard there's no land in-"

"Trust me, darling. I'll be safe right there. Give me a month to reach and regroup there, then you leave here for me, and we will have our own family there. Promise me?"

"Promise."

From that moment, he was determined not to go back to the Dark Reef again. With all of his energy he had, he swam as far as he could until eventually, he sensed something weird.

The shock-wave again. Yet, he chose to ignore, just like what Dragonus reacted upon soaring through the barrier. The Meta Barrier. He sensed nothing wrong and he thought the earthquake strikes again at the sea bed, so he chose to swim instead.

Until when he noticed the gradual decrease in terms of the sea colour and almost reaching the mainland after several hours of swimming and resting, he realized that he was into the new territory. The aqua plants were different from the one he usually saw in the Dark Reef. Then the nightcrawler resurfaced slowly, only to realize that he was, in fact, looking at a magical forest upon surface. And he could observe a chameleon drinking the water.

Her clothing material was almost same as his: brownish rag-like material cloth was covering her breasts and her lower body as well. Slark never seen this creature as well, but according to the fish, her body resembles human but some of the body parts resemble a chameleon as well. The chameleon was drinking water until she noticed the presence of the fish.

The chameleon blinked her eye. "Who are you?"

Slark's cover was blown.

"Don't be shy, little fish. Neeko wants to make friends!"

"Uhm… Neeko, hey?" Slark slowly surfaced to approach the curious chameleon. "It's uhm… really pleasure to meet you. My name is Slark."

The curious chameleon observed the Slithereen assassin slowly while Slark walked towards her and the surface as well. She was amused as she never encountered a walking fish before, well except Fizz. But Fizz is an amphibian yordle. So technically, this was her first encounter with a walking and talking fish. Without hesitation, Neeko had her arm wide, deceiving Slark that she was welcoming him with a warm hug.

And… Slark had fallen into the trap.

Neeko's curiosity was all behind the trap. Lifting the fish up easily, Neeko stretched her arms, inspecting Slark easily due to the obvious height difference (with Neeko is about 170cm while Slark barely hits the one-meter mark), from left to right, top to bottom, what's within his hood and what's hiding behind his loincloth-

"Neeko! Stop peeking at my part!" Slark yelped in embarrassment.

"Oh, sorry!" Neeko giggled while putting the fish down. Slark sighed in relief before picking up his Sliver Edge shiv that was previously dropped off upon the chameleon lifting up. "I'm so curious about the walking fish!" The naïve chameleon told the nightcrawler proudly.

"Oh… just… Nobody would expect a walking fish, so yeah-" Slark let his guard down since this creature possessed no threat to him. "Say, any idea where I am now?"

"Oh-" Neeko gasped, followed by Slark's surprised reaction, "You're new to here, don't you? This place – the Vastayan calls it Ionia! And if you've never been to Ionia, you should have heard about Runeterra before."

"Damn!" Slark shouted in exclamation. "So… this is the north, then."

Neeko blinked her eyes in confusion. "North?"

"Forget it. At least the… bad guys cannot hunt me down for now!" Slark had his arms pressing against his waist and said his lines proudly. He noted the fact that Neeko knew nothing about the Ancients.

"I have a magic trick; do you want to see?" Neeko asked happily.

"Sure! Why not!"

And poof- another fish similar to Slark appeared in front of Slark.

"Neeko is Slark now! Hahaha," Neeko was mimicking the fish to the finest details. Slark was well entertained, giggling in response to Neeko's gestures similar to his.

"You made my day, Neeko. And it's really a pleasure to meet you. Now, revert to who you are before we can shake our hands." Slark showing up his gesture, attempting to shake her hand. Neeko smiled before reverting back as Slark told, before shaking his hand as well. But, Neeko had no intentions to let go. Instead, she lifted him up easily and placing him onto her back.

"There's no time to rest in this magical land, Slark! It's Neeko's duty to be a guide tour of the fish, in this magical forest!"

And off she went carrying Slark around, running into the woods.


	5. The Birthday Plan

**Imagination is the only limit. That's all I can say. The story must be continued to the point where one day I'll retire from roleplaying in Twitter.**

**Anyway, just one review will be appreciated. Didn't know what went wrong… Are the verses dying? I hope not!**

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**CHAPTER FIVE**

**The Birthday Plan (plus an unexpected surprise)**

"I guess I'll stay here. Thanks for the offer to me. The skywrath is very grateful." Dragonus was still inside Rakan and Xayah's cabin, smiling towards the ceiling while the Vastayan couple embraced towards each other.

"I know this isn't easy to heal the wound within your heart," Xayah spoke, "I know the feel from the moment I lost my mieli. You cannot merely depend on everyone you can hope on. You must believe in yourself-"

"But here I am now!" Rakan interrupted.

"Shut up-" Xayah pushed her support's face aside before continued her lines to the skywrath mage, "Dragonus, I think you need a makeover in order to move on. We can teach you some stuffs."

"Yeah, I can teach you too!" Rakan said.

"Me three!"

"Wait, what?" Xayah exclaimed as the three people could heard someone eavesdropping the whole conversation. Dragonus quickly recognized the voice because he found it very familiar.

"I know who you are. Just come out now, or else I'll ask anyone to kill you, you mischievous monkey," Dragonus shouted, "On my count to three, one, two-"

"Okay, okay." Wukong gave up. He jumped down from the tree and breached the door. "Dragonus! That was unexpected! Say, how did you break the barrier?"

"The barrier? What barrier?" Dragonus asked in return, "I just flew all the way to the north and-"

"The barrier? What is a barrier?" Rakan interrupted.

"Shut up, bird boy, I'm asking my friend, not you!" Wukong pointed towards the Vastayan charmer.

"I don't know, Wukong… I have no idea. All I know is about finding a new place after the Ghastly Eyrie has fallen to the sisters."

"Wait, how about Shendelzare-"

"She's dead." Xayah stood up. Technically she was right because she figured out the background story of the skywrath mage. Wukong, surprisingly, took a gasp in response, before giving Dragonus a hug and petting his head.

"I'm sorry of your loss. But, you still have me. And look at you now; you're making new friends! Man, I'd wish I have someone who I can care as well…" Wukong sighed.

"Well, it was easy to get your miella or mieli, depends on your sexuality," Rakan explained, "Wukong, right? It's all about determination. All you have to do is go for the right one. Look at us now; we're not on the same page at first-"

"Now we are." Xayah interrupted her mieli's line this time. Pretty smooth.

"I guess, this is your chance, Dragonus."

"No, Wukong. I would like to, but I'll decline the offer." The skywrath mage from the Ancients sighed in sorrow. "You don't get it, monkey. I dated her for years and we're about to form a family when the incident happened suddenly. It'll take a lifetime for me before I could see her again. You're different because you didn't date anyone before for 520 years-"

And Dragonus' mouth was being shut forcefully by the Monkey King, thanks to the monkey hand.

"What? 520 years and still single?" Xayah was in utter shock.

"And a virgin? Man, you're a God." Rakan gave the Monkey King a slow clap. Dragonus had revealed the immortal Monkey King's biggest secret – being a virgin for at least five hundred years.

"Hey, I spent that five centuries under the mountain, what do you expect? Not living under the mountain, but being crushed under the mountain, in fact!" Wukong sighed after explaining the truth to the Vastayan couple, before turned on Dragonus and knocked his head lightly. "Shitty wizard."

"Hey, enough of the little drama right here!" Xayah almost shouted before showing up with her feathers. One could see the reflection of the feathers because they are as sharp as knives. "Seriously, monkey, you need to stop whining and get yourself a girlfriend… I know one!"

Dragonus, realizing the situation when Wukong was being distracted by Xayah's words, quickly freed himself before putting Wukong onto where the skywrath mage was sitting. "She's right, you need one. I can teach you how to charm a girl."

"And we are willing to help." Cue Rakan stepping in the scene.

"Tch. Alright." Wukong groaned.

**xXx**

Wukong was such a quick learner despite seven days had passed since his encounter with the Vastayan Lhotlan couple and his skywrath mage buddy. During these seven days, they gave him some crash courses to date a girl. Xayah taught the Monkey King how to cook because she believes that girls can be attracted by guys who like to cook. Dragonus was explaining to him about the terms and conditions in order to date a girl successfully and thus win her heart, as he went dating with his love before. As for Rakan… Rakan was scheduled to scout any single ladies available across Runeterra. And he had a perfect candidate for Wukong.

Ahri, the nine-tailed fox. She had just lost her kind. Now, she needed someone to depend on. Rakan was pretty close to the nine-tailed fox at this point, and Ahri was expecting a birthday surprise from Rakan today.

"Ahri~" Rakan stepped into her territory as promised.

"Rakan? Aren't you supposed to be with Xayah today?" Ahri chuckled as she was given a warm hug by the Vastayan charmer.

"Ah, just wait for me." Rakan took out a piece of cloth before blindfolding the fox, "I'm bringing you to a place, Ahri. Just trust me, okay?"

"Are you getting me a birthday present? I'm really excited right now." The nine-tail vixen nodded.

"Exactly," Rakan answered, before holding her hand firmly and guiding her slowly. It took one hour for them to reach the place, where the surprise waited for her. And it was being revealed that Rakan was bringing her to the Wuju Temple, where the Monkey King resides currently. Rakan then undid the blindfold for Ahri.

"Just… Whoa…" Ahri was amused by what's in front of her. A dining table full of food such as beef, mutton, chicken, colourful vegetables and rice. Rakan has invited his girlfriend as well.

"Oh, Xayah." Ahri was unimpressed by the attendance for the table, "And there are just three of us. But why there are four chairs right here…"

"I am the fourth!" Cue Wukong who was holding the last dish into the dining room scene. "You must be Ahri, right? The name's Wukong, the Monkey King! It's pretty nice to meet you! And… Today is your birthday, isn't it? So… I show up and do the cooking-"

"That was so kind of you for now, but we're about to start our meal, shall we?" Rakan interrupted the talkative monkey by taking the last dish away from the monkey before placed it onto the dining table. "Now… Shall we begin?"

"Yeah… Let's go." Ahri took a seat and so did the Vastayan couple, and finally the Monkey King. They were sitting beside the long side of the dining table, with the love birds on one side and the remaining two on the other. Dragonus was not in the scene because he was too shy to show up, but he did give some bold words to boost Wukong's confidence prior to this.

At first, Ahri and Wukong didn't interact much after Wukong introduced himself. But, Ahri started to nod as she tasted the food that was being prepared by the Monkey King himself, and she opened up a conversation with Wukong by talking about how delicious the food could be. Wukong nodded smiling, as he couldn't expect that the fox was this friendly too.

"Glad you like it."

Just then, Xayah could heard something weird. Someone could potentially interrupt their happy moment. "Whoever it is, show yourself!" Xayah stood up and had her feathers ready. What a sharp-minded rebellious Vastayan Lhotlan.

And cue two creatures stumbled and fell down behind one of the pillars nearby.

"Neeko didn't mean to interrupt, but Neeko smells food…" the chameleon spoke.

"I need food too…" the fish spoke.

Slark and Neeko just introduced themselves into the scene.

"Slark, what are you doing here? And I thought Neeko supposed to go bowling-" Wukong walked towards both creatures to help them up.

"What bowling?" Neeko didn't get the joke.

"Ahri, I'm so sorry I didn't expect this would happen, but-" Rakan stood up, trying to explain to Ahri about the unexpected intruders.

"Enough." Ahri stood up. The atmosphere went awkward for a second. She could hear Wukong catching his breath heavily. "Let them in. We couldn't finish up the food anyway, it was too much."

And so, Slark and Neeko were included in the guest list of Ahri's birthday party. And Ahri made new friends and eventually got herself a birthday cake, credited by Wukong himself. "Monkey, can I count on you?"

"Of course, Ahri."

And they were now dating since that birthday party.


	6. The Secret Revealed

**Here's the new update after a bit more than a week! Appreciate the first review for this story, although it is short and simple... Thanks! And... will update the brief lore about Lanaya, the Templar Assassin in the future... Stay tuned!**

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**CHAPTER SIX**

**The Secret ****Revealed**** (shared between the violets)**

A few days had passed since Wukong started dating with Ahri. Now, everyone was back to their own life. The Monkey King had started his new life in the Wuju Temple, along with Master Yi who trained the martial art along with him. Xayah woke up early as always to prepare breakfast, but this time she had to prepare an extra portion as she was serving Rakan too. Dragonus moved out from the couple's cabin to the Wuju Temple, although he remained contact with Rakan. Neeko and Slark were still going for an adventure together, specifically they were still exploring the unknowns within the Ionian forest.

Talking about the Ionian forest, there was one uninvited guest within the forest.

**xXx**

"Hey, Tresdin, did you remember when you talked to the monkey recently?"

There were two women sitting in the midst of the battlefield. One of them is a dark-tanned soldier. Yes, you probably knew her from the beginning of the story; but if not, her name is Tresdin, and everyone on the battlefield calls her the Legion Commander. She took off her helmet to take a rest, revealing her red, messy hair. She was dedicated into wars that she had little time to care about her appearance, but she would not forget about herself as an iron lady in the battlefield.

As for the other woman, she has a fairly violet outfit along with a mask covering her mouth. She has a purple skin and she was being identified as an elf, in general. She appears more mysterious compared to Tresdin due to her appearances, but oddly she is no stranger to other creatures alive on the Ancients.

"Lanaya, why are you interested? Perhaps you have something to tell about Wukong? Nope, I didn't meet him recently." The legion commander answered to the templar assassin without hesitation, but in fact, Tresdin lied.

"I see your eyes within you, Tresdin. I'm pretty sure that you have met him before, in any kinds of situation. There is a secret hiding in between your eyes, could you please tell me the truth, Tresdin?" Lanaya took a closer look into Tresdin's eyes for a brief moment, before the latter looked away.

"Yes, I admit it. I met him before, but I don't know about his whereabouts. He was just teasing me about the Bronze Legion."

"What a disgrace," Lanaya sighed behind her mask, "At least you told me something valuable, about the Bronze Legion. But is it strange that he didn't tell you about where he would be going? Any ideas?"

"All I know is he was riding a cloud and he was flying towards… North."

"North? Is there supposed to be nothing?" Curiosity arose when Tresdin mentioned the word "north", and Lanaya raised an eyebrow upon hearing the said word. "I am so curious right now, Tresdin. Let me investigate into this matter before I can give you an answer. Is that any day that you're free of war?"

"3 days."

"That's it. See you 3 days later, Tresdin." And then they parted ways.

Making her way towards the Violet Plateau, Lanaya was thinking about why the Monkey King was heading north and would never return. While she arrived, there was a middle-aged, bearded man greeting her. "Lanaya, how is it going?" he asked, "Any clues you could find from the commander?"

"Not really, Boush," she replied towards the man, "except one thing. The Monkey King was heading to the north."

"To the North?" The tinker was heading back to his workshop where he was trying to fix his rocket launchers. "Maybe, just maybe, there is something about the mystery of the north. Perhaps you can find it for yourself?" The tinker's clue gave a new hope for the templar assassin. The violet elf gave a quick thank you speech to the tinker before heading towards the Violet Archives, the library of the plateau, where most books around the Ancients are being kept for reference.

"Let's see what we have here…" Lanaya slid her fingers over the book covers. There is a book about the Dark Reef, and there is another book about the Seven Hells, and many more. Most of the books are about the history and the geography of the Ancients. Lanaya found it bored as she had read most of the books in the Archives since she was just a kid.

And then, the templar assassin found one book she had no clue about. The book title says, "The North".

"Strange, I don't remember if I read that one." The violet elf pulled the book out from the shelf and flipped the book open. She could not understand most words on the book as the writing fonts were strangers to the templar assassin, well, except few, thanks to the translation notes citated on the sticky notes attached to the pages of the book.

"Shurima? Piltover? Ionia? Hmm… I have never heard of these names before… Perhaps these are the places on the north?"

She would spend the next few days sitting inside the Violet Archives, trying to decipher the writings from The North. And she was trying to relate any places mentioned in the book with the possible whereabouts of the Monkey King after leaving the Ancients without a trace. Despite after a few days, she had yet to get a result. Decided to take a break while deciphering the places, Lanaya placed her head onto the page where she was deciphering Ionia and gave herself a good sleep.

**xXx**

A sigh.

Her mieli was running errands, and Xayah was bored, being alone at her own cabin. She was rolling around on her bed in her pyjamas while groaning in boredom. "Jeez, I have nothing to do… Rakan, where are you going?"

The violet Vastayan thought she would waste her time if she kept on whining on their bed just like this. Hopping off the bed, Xayah took a quick shower before getting herself a usual attire, and then she went off to hunt some food. Rakan and Xayah were running out of food supply, and as Rakan was not around, it was Xayah's job to find some food to prevent themselves from hunger.

Hopping across the trees in the Ionian woods, Xayah was searching for her new victim. Well, she had found one several minutes later, but her so-called victim was apparently on the ground. Xayah took a close inspect on the new victim she could find – purple skin, violet outfit, dark mask… She had not seen this elf around Runeterra before. The elf had fallen asleep currently, as Xayah could detect other female's breasts which went moving vertically due to respiration.

And then the elf opened her eyes slowly. The first thing she could see was a lady with a pair of fluffy ears staring at her. The elf blinked before she moved herself up to the sitting position slowly. "Strange, where am I?"

"First question, who are you?" Xayah responded with three sharp and glowing violet feathers in her right hand. The violet Vastayan was ready to throw her feathers in case she was being threatened, in terms of her own life.

"Interesting creature. You didn't answer my question and you gave me a question, asking me to answer yours instead," the violet elf pulled down her mask to reveal her face, "The name is Lanaya. The templar assassin."

"Templar assassin, you say?" Xayah raised an eyebrow, "Never heard of that one. There's no such thing in Ionia, although we have a temple here."

"Ionia… You did say?" Lanaya was trying to remember where she was before she ended up in Ionia. Turned out that she was teleported into the part of the Runeterra in her sleep. She had no idea how she did manage this feat. All she could remember was herself falling asleep on the book while trying to decipher Ionia. "Strange… I have no clue about how I end up here… Any clue, young lady?"

"It's Xayah," The Vastayan kept her feathers away from her hand, since Lanaya possessed no threats against Xayah, "I have no idea what you're talking about. Perhaps you can ask Wukong about it, he's currently living in the Wuju Temple-"

"That's it!" Lanaya exclaimed before holding Xayah's hands. "Xayah, I'm certain that you are familiar with the geography of Ionia. Plus, is Wukong the Monkey King we're talking about? Because I know him too…"

A squint from the rebellious bird. "Wait, you know him? He did mention about the Ancients."

A gentle nod from the templar assassin. "I'm from there as well."

"Now, that is pretty strange… We have some uninvited guests from the… Ancients. First, the Monkey King. And then my mieli and I stumbled upon a bird man and his name is Dragonus. After that a little fish named Slark crashed the party while we're having dinner with Wukong and his new girlfriend-"

"Too much information," Lanaya was confused. So much things happened since Wukong left to Runeterra, And Lanaya was surprised upon the fact that some of her friends are already at Ionia way before her. "I need to learn more about this place. But, asking the monkey is perhaps not the only option, I supposed."

"You can leave here and head towards better regions like Demacia and Noxus for more information. I believe the libraries are set up around places so one can study about the history of Runeterra. Or, if you're interested about Ionia, I can bring you to the city centre too. You're in?"

"Of course I'm in. Nice to meet you, Xayah."

"It's my pleasure, Lanaya."


End file.
